6.5 paper patched to .285

[nighthunter]

Today I put 3 wraps of yellow pages paper on .266 bullets. After they dry they measure .285, just what I was hopeing for to use in my 7mm-08. I plan to load some tomorrow with powder charges just below what the rifle likes with jacketed bullets. I know I've waited a little too long to try to pull this off as deer season is only a week away. I have to see what a PP cast bullet will do to a deer at 3000 fps. I put a small amount of water soluable wood glue into the water that I soak my patches in. This seems to hold the paper together throughout the loading procedures. One guy I know locally uses egg whites to hold his paper patches together.If you guys think of anything that might help me get this done leave some messages.

Nighthunter

[geargnasher]

I wish you luck, but personally I have never had any sort of success grouping with boolits that were even a couple thousandths smaller than bore diameter.

Gear

[pdawg_shooter]

Near as I can tell the bare bullet needs to be BORE diameter +.001/..015 to shoot good. Never have got a bullet of less than bore diameter to shoot any groups at all. Maybe I am not trying hard enough.

[303Guy]

Just a thought, since the bare boolit should be larger than bore but isn't and since you are trying glue-water to soak the patch why not use a glue that dries hard and use enough of it to stiffen the paper so that it compensates for the undersized boolit? My thinking is that it'll then be hard enough to support the boolit in the bore and be brittle enough to fragment at the muzzle. There used to be such glues. The old paper glues and then there was a powder glue mixed with water used for woodwork and that dried pretty hard if I remember.

[geargnasher]

303Guy, you're thinking of Durham's Rock-Hard Water Putty. Good stuff for filling cracks, but it might be pretty abrasive.

Gear

[nighthunter]

Made it to the range today. Had 20 rounds loaded with 2 different charges of H-414. At 100 yards the bulk of the shots were in about a 4 inch group but had some wild fliers. I won't be hunting deer this year with PP in the 7mm-08. Maybe I'll have to beagle the mold to get a slightly larger bullet to start with. Had fun getting the results I got and will use the info to further development of a better bullet. Maybe I can try to find a used .270 mold. It should cast around .278. That might be better than beageling the 6.5 mold. I'm not giving up, I'll get it to work before next years deer season.

Nighthunter

[303Guy]

303Guy, you're thinking of Durham's Rock-Hard Water Putty. Cascamite! The name just came to me when re-reading you're post! The stuff is still available too. But as you say, it might be abrasive although it might be harder than paper it may not be hard enough to be abrasive. It is quite pricey for a simple experiment though unless it can be obtained smaller quantities.

nighthunter, that's a pretty good start. May I suggest continuing trials along those lines to see where it leads? By all means pursue a 270 mold. Something that might improve your odds is printer paper. Oversize with printer paper is good because it compresses down so well and that same property might just make it able to support an under bore diameter casting. You have seen what fun it is experimenting with paper patching ...... I've done stuff that I knew was not supposed to work just to see for myself and of course to gain an insight into why and how it doesn't work. And it didn't work but it was fun.

[Doble Troble]

I've got a 7 x 57 with 0.276 bore and 0.286 grooves. I've been casting this RCBS bullet: http://www.midwayusa.com/product/289494/rcbs-2-cavity-bullet-mold-270-150-sp-270-caliber-278-diameter-150-grain-semi-point-gas-check

Mine casts best with a dipper. It drops bigger than I want - 0.280. I've been sizing it down in a Lyman lubrisizer with a 0.277 die. It's harder to size than I expected, maybe the Lee set-up would be better? If memory serves 0.277" was a standard, off the shelf Lyman die.

I'm patching back up with notebook paper - I like the lines for rolling. Then I size at 0.287.

I've loaded about 20 of these over AA4350 using the starting load for 150s in the Sierra manual.

I'm ready to shoot them now - but haven't yet! Hopefully I'll get some range time soon.

I'll report back when I do.

I'm grateful to all posting here for advice and information.

[geargnasher]

Sounds like it ought to work!

Gear

[303Guy]

The 7x57 might be one of those calibers that just lends itself to paper patching. I'm looking forward to your range results. (I've patched a 122gr 250 boolit and I'd say that's about as small as one would reasonably want to go and still be manageable.

[pdawg_shooter]

Try patching the .280 as cast bullet with 12# paper. Should work and save you a step. Dont worry about being a bit oversize after patching, the paper will compress nicely in the bore.